New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy today "signed a bill" that "legalizes wagering, making it likely that gambling could start later this week." The "last remaining hurdle ... is the licensing process, which is being expedited to accommodate the desire to get betting operations up and running as soon as possible." The legislation "includes a clause stating that online sports betting cannot start within 30 days of the bill signing."

The New Jersey Racing Commission "handles the licensing for the racetracks" and it has "scheduled a meeting on Wednesday, presumably to accept applications and distribute licenses to operators, enabling Monmouth Park to begin accepting bets as early as Thursday." The state’s other two racetracks are "still a few weeks away." The Borgata in Atlantic City is the "only casino that is prepared to immediately begin taking bets, transforming some betting windows at its horse-racing facility into a temporary sports-gambling site until a permanent venue is completed" (NYTIMES.com, 6/11).

The U.S. Supreme Court is "leaving in place a court decision dismissing a lawsuit" filed against the Cubs by the owners of rooftop clubs adjacent to Wrigley Field. The club owners sued the team in '15, "arguing in part that a right-field video board the team was adding would block their views of the ballpark and violate terms of a 2004 revenue-sharing agreement." A three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in September "upheld the decision to dismiss the case." The Supreme Court today declined to hear the case, "leaving the lower court decisions in place" (AP, 6/11).

There are expected to be "three new bowl games added" for the '20 college football season based on recommendations from the NCAA Competition Committee, according to sources. For that season, a "record 43 bowls (including the College Football Playoff title game) would be held." The recommendations, expected to be approved tomorrow by the NCAA’s Football Oversight Committee, also "designated the maximum number of bowl tie-ins per conference." Chicago and Myrtle Beach are "near locks to host two of the new bowl games," with the Chicago game to be played at Wrigley Field. Arizona State has "shown interest in adding a bowl in Tempe," and other locales that "have expressed interest" include Charleston, S.C., and Greenville, N.C. (FACEBOOK.com, 6/11).

LeBron James is co-producing an HBO Sports documentary, and the network in a release said it will explore the "exploitative world of high-revenue college sports." The film, titled "Student Athlete," will debut Oct. 2 on HBO. James is listed as an exec producer "in association with SpringHill Entertainment," the production company he founded with business manager Maverick Carter. The documentary "will feature four current and former college athletes, including Kentucky basketball player Nick Richards." James earlier this year famously told reporters, "The NCAA is corrupt" (USATODAY.com, 6/11).

Global Sports Venture Studio, the startup platform backed by the Dodgers and R/GA, today formally announced a group of founding partners: Adidas, Dick's Sporting Goods, Fox Sports, Levy, MLB, MLS, NHL and Octagon, with UEFA becoming the program's European anchor partner. The Studio was formerly known as the Dodgers Accelerator "before an expansion and renaming earlier this year." Each property and company "will have the ability to work with startups selected for the program, and in many cases those relationships will ultimately lead to equity investments" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/11 issue).

ESPN tomorrow will present a special telecast for Mets-Braves by honoring Baseball HOFer Hank Aaron at 7:30pm ET. Aaron will join the net's Dave Flemming, Eduardo Perez and Tim Kurkjian as a guest in the booth for multiple innings. Aaron's lasting impact on the game will also be celebrated throughout the contest (ESPN).

ANC Sports Enterprises will install a new center-hung scoreboard at the Ohio Univ. Convocation Center, the school announced today. The rectangular board will have four LED displays. ANC also will install new audio systems at the 13,000-seat arena. The cost of the project was not disclosed, but the school's Board of Regents previously approved $2M for the new scoreboard. N.Y.-based ANC plans to have the new board in place by August.

This morning’s edition of NBC’s “Today” featured Yankees RF Aaron Judge, LF Brett Gardner and LF Giancarlo Stanton appearing live to promote the team’s annual “Hope Week” initiative. NBC’s Carson Daly said, "They work with important charities and do great. And they also play great during ‘Hope Week,’ with a nice victory percentage.” Gardner said “Hope Week” is something the “players always look forward to, getting out in the community and getting involved, and bringing some light to some cool situations and some really special people.” Stanton said his early tenure as a Yankee has “been great, a lot of love" (“Today,” NBC, 6/11).

Our sister publication, The Esports Observer, runs a weekly briefing recapping the week that was in esports. This week: Valve will stamp out multi-team ownership in Dota 2, the Rainbow Six Pro League gives revenue sharing a try, and IKEA enters esports with furniture for players.

FloSports has signed a multiyear streaming partnership with the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, the 10-team NCAA Division 1 conference. All 140 regular-season games will stream on FloHockey.tv; as well as all preseason, exhibition and non-conference games hosted by WCHA teams; and up to 19 postseason games starting in '18-19 (Ian Thomas, Staff Writer).

The CFL will stream a live weekly show on Facebook one hour before each Thursday night kickoff leading into the CFL on TSN pregame show. "CFLGameTime" will debut this Thursday and will be hosted by Brodie Lawson and former CFLer Davis Sanchez (CFL).

CMN Sports is partnering with Relevent Sports, which organizes the Int'l Champions Cup, to present a Colombia-Venezuela friendly on Sept. 7 at Hard Rock Stadium (CMN Sports).

“Once I jumped in four years ago, it was a major undertaking, and I think a lot more than I had any idea about. It’s way faster than any other thing I cover” -- Fox’ Joe Buck, on calling golf (“No Laying Up Podcast,” NOLAYINGUP.com, 6/11).

“I don't think it necessarily portends problems for his career down the line, it just means it’s really going to cut into the fun for the next two years and continuing an amazing stretch of bad free agent (signings) for that franchise” -- ESPN’s Bomani Jones, on Angels P/OF Shohei Ohtani reportedly needing Tommy John surgery, which would make him miss considerable playing time (“High Noon,” ESPN, 6/11).

When Dwane Casey left Cleveland Saturday morning, he was not inclined to take the Pistons’ job. But ownership/management led by Tom Gores put a full-court press on over the weekend to get the deal done—and relented on letting the new coach pick his assistants, per sources.

— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) June 11, 2018

For May, @MikeFrancesa averaged 6.8% share of audience among men ages 25-54 and ranked first in market. @RealMichaelKay averaged 5.5% and ranked fourth.

— Neil Best (@sportswatch) June 11, 2018

World Cup starts on Thursday, which means only 3 days until Americans start bandwagoning Iceland.

— Sara Germano (@germanotes) June 11, 2018

Wanted to send my best wishes to @RogMillions who is leaving #Sportsnet today for a change in careers - Politics! We’ll miss you, Roger!

— Hazel Mae (@thehazelmae) June 11, 2018

No, we are not changing our name to University of Maryland, Burger College.

— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) June 11, 2018

If you see a tweet we will not want to miss, send it to us at editorial@sportsbusinessdaily.com.

One of the segments in CBS Sports Network's monthly show "We Need To Talk" will feature a heartfelt open letter from Laila Ali to her late father Muhammad Ali.

Warriors F Kevin Durant will appear on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" at 11:35pm ET.

UFC fighter Daniel Cormier will appear on TBS' "Conan" at 11:00pm.

ESPN's Keyshawn Johnson will make a guest appearance on ABC's "The Bachelorette" at 8:00pm.

$135M -- Value of non-wood baseball bat inventory sports retailers have moved in the first three months of '18, according to market research company NPD Group. USA Baseball beginning this season implemented "new youth league standards designed to make metal bat models function like their wood counterparts" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/11 issue).